Cavazos spent 32 years at the $737 million credit union and became president/CEO in 1986. He started at Credit Union ONE in 1974 as a supervisor in the accounting department

In a statement, the credit union said, "All terms of Mr. Cavazos' retirement have been resolved amicably and to the satisfaction of everyone concerned."

Gary Moody, vice president of strategic alliances, has been serving as interim president/CEO since April, when Cavazos began an indefinite leave of absence. Moody will continue to serve in that capacity, but the board has not made a decision on whether it will be conducting an external search, according to Mary Jane McCarty, public relations director.

"Credit Union ONE and Mr. Cavazos wish each other well," the statement read. "Mr. Cavazos looks forward to a long and happy retirement. Credit Union ONE looks forward to continuing its mission of serving the financial and other needs of its members."

McCarty said she is "not privy" to the terms of Cavazos' retirement plans, only reiterating, "it's an amicable situation."

Founded in 1938 as the Ferndale Co-operative Credit Union, in 1984, the credit union's name was changed to Credit Union ONE to better represent its open field of membership charter. The credit union serves 115,000 members and has 21 branches.

According to the credit union, current figures show $56 million in equity and $549.6 million in loans. A closer look at its Sept. 30, 2006 NCUA summary financial information report showed some extraordinary drops in the investment categories. Investment growth was 7.04% in December 2005, but then nosedived in March 2006 to negative 39.98% and then to negative 55.62% in June. It rebounded slightly as of Sept. 30, but was still in the red at negative 41.95%. Total investments also took a plunge going from $127,875,969 in March 2006 to $66,874,226 as of Sept. 30. In an e-mailed message, Tom Schaeffler, executive vice president of Credit Union ONE, said "investments decreased from 3-06 to 9-06 to pay down notes payable, (Federal Home Loan Bank), and following national trends, the reduction of savings coming to the credit union during that period of time."

Credit Union ONE's investment division, ONE's Financial Services, Inc., is headed by Cavazos' son, John Cavazos, who serves as executive director and has been with the credit union since 1999. Armando has served on the board of directors at Reston, Va.-based OnLine Investments, Inc., a financial services holding company that owns MyStockFund, a product for long-term investors to implement a dollar-cost-averaging, re-invest their dividends, and provide the ability to build a personalized and diversified stock portfolio through dollar-based purchases of fractional shares, according to the company's Web site. Credit Union ONE's investment division offers MyStockFund to its members.

Stewart Christ, founder and president/CEO of OnLine Investments, said it is Cavazos' intention to continue serving on the board post-retirement.

"Mr. Cavazos joined the board because of his enthusiasm for our MyStockFund savings and investment service, created to bring responsible and affordable savings and investing services to middle America," Christ said, adding Cavazos has been on the board since October 2001. "Through his contribution, MyStockFund has grown, and now has key strategic relationships with organizations such as NASDAQ and Better Investing." In other areas, the credit union's net worth went from 7.27% in Sept. 2005 to 6.70% in December of the same year. It continued to stay low in March 2006 at 6.77%, but climbed up to 7.25% in June and then to 7.59% in September, still below its peer group, which was 11.07% as of June, according the NCUA's ratio analysis report. The credit union transferred $800,000 to its regular reserves in March 2006. --msamaad@cutimes.com